Governor Patrick proposes eliminating liquor license cap

[keithn.livejournal.com]

In what could end up being great news for Somerville, Governor Patrick has proposed eliminating the liquor license cap for towns and cities across the state. This would eliminate what has (ostensibly) been a major hurdle preventing new restaurants from opening in Somerville.

More details: http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/05/gov_deval_patrick_proposes_to.html

From the article:

"That giant sigh of relief you probably heard was Mayor Joe Curtatone,” joked Gardner Mayor Mark Hawke, referring to the Somerville mayor who was not in attendance.

Curtatone appeared with Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll at a legislative hearing in August to testify in favor of legislation to eliminate the cap, arguing that restaurant owners find it difficult to locate in Somerville because of a lack of available licenses.

I'm not sure what resistance there will be to this, but current restaurant owners will have something to lose, as their liquor licenses (which are transferable) will no longer have any value.

Comments

[puffy-wuffy.livejournal.com]

Agreed. I feel that we're taking a potentially positive step if and only if residents and owners get to weigh in on what the new policies should be, but the State has definitely taken its pound of flesh out of current owners and, well, it doesn't seem like there is anything in the works to compensate current owners. It seems like the State is just calling it a sunk cost. The new City-run liquor licensing racket could be even worse than the old one . . . or it could take into account in some concrete way, the efforts of current owners.